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Man City - the new bitters?


Naz17
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On 14/02/2020 at 14:04, liverpoolsno9 said:

UEFA really need to make an example of these cunts. If they don’t, they may as well just scrap FFP

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-city-uefa-champions-league-ffp-ban-appeal-news-latest-a9335136.html

 


It is hard to make sense of the strange dance Uefa and Manchester City are conducting over financial fair play. Two impenetrable organisations are locked in battle and the result will determine whether European football’s ruling body can exercise any control over the spending of the clubs that operate under its auspices.

This week the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) published details of City’s appeal against the decision of Uefa’s investigatory chamber to refer the club to the adjudicatory chamber over breaches of financial rules. CAS rejected City’s entreaties in November on the blindingly obvious grounds that there was no verdict or punishment to question. The adjudicatory chamber is yet to hand down its judgement. The documents provide a record of the arguments put before the Lausanne-based court four months ago.

 

Rewinding to the nub of the case, Uefa’s investigation began after the German magazine Der Spiegel published a cache of City’s internal emails three years ago. The hacked communications suggested that the club had misled the authorities over sponsorship that was supposed to have come from Etihad, the state airline of Abu Dhabi, but is alleged to have been provided by Sheikh Mansour, the owner and ruler of the Emirate.

 

City deny any wrongdoing but based their arguments to CAS on Uefa’s procedural mistakes in preparing the case. They also demanded damages for what they saw as “leaks” to the media by Uefa, which indicated that the club would be banned from the Champions League for at least a season.

 

This is where it gets interesting. Uefa were bullish about their position back in May when the investigatory chamber filed their charges but time has dragged on without an adjudicatory chamber ruling being declared. There has been a growing suspicion – even among Uefa insiders – that some sort of backroom deal was being arranged whereby City would escape a ban from European competition. The publication of CAS’s documents implies that this is not on the agenda. CAS makes its decisions public unless both parties agree to keep the details confidential. The paperwork of the Paris Saint-Germain case last year – where Uefa seemed to lose its nerve – was never released. Allowing the bitter exchanges with City into the open hints that a showdown is inevitable.

 

City’s complaints about the leaks raised eyebrows, too. Leaks, unattributed briefings – call them what you will – are common in football. All parties practise these dark arts and use them to set the agenda or heap pressure on their enemies. It is hard to take anyone who is sanctimonious about the use of leaks too seriously. In November, there were reports that a deal had been agreed and City would be hit with a fine rather than an expulsion from the Champions League. It is unlikely – given the mood in Uefa – that this came from Nyon.

 

Everybody likes to get their version of the tale out, ideally without leaving any fingerprints. Most football journalist could reel off countless occasions when the story for general consumption varied greatly with what was said in private when the Dictaphones were switched off.

It is still hard to predict what sentence the adjudicatory chamber will hand down. The decision has been made and if the worst-case scenario happens for City, there will likely be a number of time-consuming appeals. They already have one strike to their name at CAS but the club will probably challenge any ban any way they can, including through the Swiss courts.

 

If, as Uefa contend, City have transgressed against their financial fair play rules, then the Premier League will be forced to act, too. The same regulations will have been breached domestically. There is no real appetite to sanction the club but it would be inevitable. A points deduction would be the obvious option.

 

At that juncture it might make sense for City to back down, swallow their pride and take the punishment. In a season where they are 22 points behind Liverpool with no prospect of catching their rivals, being demoted a few places down the table would not be the worst thing, especially if they are suspended from the Champions League for next season. This would be painful but would have little long-term effect. Dragging everyone through the courts might end up significantly more damaging.
 

 

Uefa will make their decision clear soon. If the ruling body are feeling vindictive, they will announce it around City’s Champions League knockout round tie with Real Madrid. Real are leading lights in the old-money clique that have been ranged against the Etihad since the Abu Dhabi takeover. They would appreciate such spitefulness at the Bernabeu and Real would not be the only big club smirking if City and their nouveau riche ways get their comeuppance.

None of this is very edifying. At times like this the game feels dirty.

 

 

'At times like this the game feels dirty.' You're only about 25 years late on that score,Sherlock.

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On 21/02/2020 at 19:56, No2 said:

When Toure scored 20 goals from midfield Sterling had a ringside view of the greatest ever peformance by any player in the 30 history of the premier league. When he cries his way to Madrid I hope Suarez is still there and bites him in the face in his first El Classico.

Which one? 

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They just cant help themselves, can they? Their 'if we're going down, we're taking everyone else with us' mentality is utterly puerile and smacks of someone always wanting to have things their way. There again, when you live somewhere where absolute rule is the norm, I guess you would think that's the only way to act.

 

That said, I cannot get my head around that pair ever thought it was a good idea to use their old logins to access their former employers database. You just dont go  doing it especially if you want to appear professional. Oh and good luck trying to get UEFA to deal with something you accepted £1m in a 'settlement' between the club with no responsibility or liability. Even your 20 grand a day cunt Pannick will struggle to make that one work.

 

Manchester City's bid to overturn their European ban could end with Liverpool in the dock over allegations that the Premier League champions-elect hacked into the Etihad’s scouting database.

Sunday Mirror Sport has been told that City will “leave nothing off the table” when they attempt to beat the two-year suspension and £25million fine levied against them by UEFA over FFP violations.

 

City will take a powerful legal team to the Court of Arbitration for Sport – and they will be armed with evidence that threatens to blow the lid off the murky work of football politics.

A central tenet of City’s argument will be that UEFA’s decision to punish them is based on an illegally-obtained raft of emails written by senior club officials that were taken out of context to deliver a guilty verdict.

The club’s servers were accessed by student Rui Pinto in 2015.

 

Pinto is currently being held in prison in Portugal awaiting trial after being charged with 90 counts of hacking, sabotage and fraud.

 

Details of how Pinto was able to break into City’s systems - and his motivations for doing so - are likely to lead to questions on how City ramped up computer security after discovering in 2013 that their scouting database had been hacked.

A forensic investigation by an independent team of experts pointed the finger at some former City scouts who had left the club to join Liverpool.

A complaint to Anfield led to Liverpool agreeing to pay a £1million compensation package and both clubs signing a confidentiality agreement.

When details of the episode resurfaced last September, the Football Association decided not to take matters further due to the “age of the alleged concerns” and the fact that the clubs had agreed a financial settlement.

 

The FA did, however, offer the caveat that they would look again if further evidence came to light.

If full details of the Spygate matter are aired at the CAS hearing in Lausanne, it will put renewed pressure on Wembley bosses to act.

It could also draw the attention of the police, with offences under the 1990 Computer Misuse Act punishable by a two-year prison sentence and £5,000 fine.

It has not yet been decided whether City’s appeal will be opened up to media scrutiny.

Both UEFA and City would have to agree to the proceedings being reported.

City have appointed leading QC David Pannick to represent them.

 

The 63-year-old, who became Baron Pannick of Radlett when he was awarded a life peerage in 2008, twice defeated the government in their bid to hurry through Brexit .

First he successfully represented Gina Miller when she won her bid to prevent Theresa May from taking the UK out of the European Union without parliamentary consent two years ago.

And he also prevailed when Mrs Miller took another case to the UK Supreme Court, claiming that prime minister Boris Johnson had given unlawful advice to the Queen in his bid to prorogue parliament last September.

Baron Pannick will spearhead a daunting City legal team that also includes legal powerhouses Freshfields, Bruckhaus Deringer, Pinsent Masons and Monkton Chambers.

City have also retained the services of Geneva-based Kellerhals Carrard if they are ultimately forced to take their case to the Swiss Federal Court.

 

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/man-city-appeal-against-european-21554811

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9 hours ago, an tha said:

Does not sit right with me at all when a player poses with another teams shirt.

 

Is it even a thing? I don't think I've ever seen anything like it ever before - a player posing with a shirt of another club weeks before they meet in European competition?? Its absolutely crazy. Imagine Salah draped in Barca or PSG colours before we played them last season?

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8 minutes ago, Alex_K said:

Is it even a thing? I don't think I've ever seen anything like it ever before - a player posing with a shirt of another club weeks before they meet in European competition?? Its absolutely crazy. Imagine Salah draped in Barca or PSG colours before we played them last season?

Didnt Ince do it with a united shirt before his transfer from west ham to them? But considering sterling's agent is that ward, Im not in the least bit surprised.

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10 hours ago, torahboy said:

David Conn with something that will not do a lot to ease the irritation that City fans are displaying at this time.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2020/feb/22/liverpool-finanacial-fair-play-manchester-city-uefa

Good article, thanks for sharing.

 

Wouldnt it be funny as fuck if UEFA turned around to city and said 'You want to raise the issue with Liverpool from 2013. An issue you had settled and accepted £1m. So, we're also going to re open our 2014 settlement with you regarding the lower fines levied on you for serious breaches of FFP in that period.'

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13 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Didnt Ince do it with a united shirt before his transfer from west ham to them? But considering sterling's agent is that ward, Im not in the least bit surprised.

Ince had agreed his transfer and did the publicity photos and fucked off on holiday while the club's finalised the deal I think. Then someone leaked the pictures. 

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On this issue of VAR shit that never goes against citeh, the ref who thought that Ederson was quite within his rights to punch Iheanacho square in the face resulting in him being taken off due to the injury, was the same cunt who disallowed Firmino’s goal on VAR for GBH by Big Virg on De Gea.

 

But we always get the decisions eh!

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24 minutes ago, Jimmy Hills Chin said:

On this issue of VAR shit that never goes against citeh, the ref who thought that Ederson was quite within his rights to punch Iheanacho square in the face resulting in him being taken off due to the injury, was the same cunt who disallowed Firmino’s goal on VAR for GBH by Big Virg on De Gea.

 

But we always get the decisions eh!

You don't understand the conspiracy. We only get the decisions when it matters. City are only getting decisions since var already gave us the league to make it look like it evens itself out over a season. The powers that be have been so transparent about this. 

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21 minutes ago, Barry Wom said:

You don't understand the conspiracy. We only get the decisions when it matters. City are only getting decisions since var already gave us the league to make it look like it evens itself out over a season. The powers that be have been so transparent about this. 

The less than devious bastards!

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I wonder if City will just copy Chelsea's route around FFP moving forward.

 

I always thought it was rather clever of Chelsea, myself. They realised that when you sign a U18 player, it counts as part of your youth system, which is exempt from FFP regulations. So they just bought all the best U18 players, gave them whatever wages it took to get them to move there, and then loaned them out when they got to 19 or 20.

 

Then, when the player is 21 or 22 either you have a player who is good enough to play for your first team (who didn't cost you anything against FFP) or you can sell them, and use the fee to offset other purchases for FFP purposes.

 

It's kind of genuis, really. I still think it's odd how much coverage you saw about "Chelsea's loan army" with so little acknowledgement of why it was happening and how it related to FFP. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see City respond to this whole debacle by going out this summer and buying up the best U18 players in England and just doing the same thing.

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5 hours ago, Ne Moe Imya said:

I wonder if City will just copy Chelsea's route around FFP moving forward.

 

I always thought it was rather clever of Chelsea, myself. They realised that when you sign a U18 player, it counts as part of your youth system, which is exempt from FFP regulations. So they just bought all the best U18 players, gave them whatever wages it took to get them to move there, and then loaned them out when they got to 19 or 20.

 

Then, when the player is 21 or 22 either you have a player who is good enough to play for your first team (who didn't cost you anything against FFP) or you can sell them, and use the fee to offset other purchases for FFP purposes.

 

It's kind of genuis, really. I still think it's odd how much coverage you saw about "Chelsea's loan army" with so little acknowledgement of why it was happening and how it related to FFP. Wouldn't be at all surprised to see City respond to this whole debacle by going out this summer and buying up the best U18 players in England and just doing the same thing.

They already did that, their youth department is brimming with top top talent. They have been signing the best possible and paying them a fortune. If they can keep hold of most of them they are set for a production line that will make the fabled class of 92 ( I fucking hate that phrase ) look like a bunch of Sunday leagueers. 

 

That said keeping hold of them is probably going to be their problem. Sanchos succes will make agents and players looking elsewhere. Ourselves would potentially have the same problem as there are a few good youngsters looking like they are going to have bright futures, but it'll be a few years before we can start dreaming of the youth talent they have in their ranks. The changes to our academy setup hopefully will provide the possibilty of a steady production of revenue from selling on some of them, and hopefully produce a few for the first team along the way.

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